Lost in the Echo by Jeremy Bishop & Robert Swartwood

Author:Jeremy Bishop & Robert Swartwood [Bishop, Jeremy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Breakneck Media
Published: 2013-12-07T18:30:00+00:00

12

For a moment Frost didn’t move. She couldn’t move, stuck in place, completely shocked.

What is this? Dear God, what is this? she thought.

Dodge screamed as the thing wrapped around his ankles and pulled him away. Frost had the sudden realization that she had never heard the man truly scream before. Shout out, yes. Cry out, certainly. It wasn’t uncommon for the man to get excited at the pulpit. But his voice filled with sheer terror? Never.

Movement to her side jolted her from her paralysis. The soldier rushed past them toward Dodge. He had the rifle out, aimed at the pastor, and for one insane moment, Frost thought he meant to shoot Dodge in the head. It would stop the screaming, that was for sure, but it was unthinkable, and Frost couldn’t allow it. She took aim, but the bullets that tore through the air weren’t hers. The soldier opened fire.

But not at Dodge. The bullets tore past Dodge and chewed up the rope-monster at its base, where it emerged from the ground.

The thing paused briefly, as its base was torn to shreds. It released Dodge’s ankle, then rose up in the air again, wobblier than before. By then, the soldier and Griffin had reached Dodge. They grabbed him together, like soldiers who had worked together before, and dragged him back toward the rest of them.

The whole thing had taken place in the matter of only seconds. Frost knew she needed to do something—she needed to act—but she wasn’t sure what to do. The proper response to this kind of situation wasn’t taught at the police academy. Then again, she doubted the military trained for giant monsters and alternate universes either, yet here were Griffin and the unknown soldier reacting with trained efficiency.

Frost hurried toward them as the creature rose higher into the air. The soldier kept firing at the base of it, but with one hand gripping Dodge, his aim was off.

The thing snapped forward again, right at Dodge and the soldier. It wrapped around the rifle and tore it out of the soldier’s hand. Frost and Griffin opened fire at the thing’s base. What they lacked in automatic fire, they made up for with accuracy. The thing rose up in the air a third time, but Frost had the distinct impression that it was weakened and unsteady.

Now with both hands free, the soldier yanked Dodge to his feet. They turned and started running, all four of them, Winslow and Charley only yards away and watching them, when suddenly they stopped.

A smattering of white motes drifted toward them. From all sides. Frost recognized them as dandelion seeds—much larger than normal, but in this new world everything was bigger.

“We won’t make it,” the soldier said, more to himself than to them. Then, his voice rising to a shout: “Get in the SUV!”

They scrambled forward. After what just happened, they weren’t going to question the soldier, especially when it was apparent he knew more about what was going on than they did.

Winslow climbed into the front passenger’s seat.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.